About

Original facade of MK Gallery, including a view of an exterior commission from exhibitors Will Alsopp and Bruce McLean,

Welcome to MK Gallery. We are a public gallery with free admission. We do not have a permanent collection. We are a purpose-built venue for changing exhibitions of international contemporary visual art.

Our Mission Statement

MK Gallery provides free access to high quality, innovative and thought-provoking contemporary art from around the world. In its programme MK Gallery stimulates participation and debate, building relationships between artists and audiences.

Brief History

The Gallery opened in October 1999 together with Milton Keynes Theatre. Designed by architect Andrzej Blonski of Blonski|Heard architects, the construction of the Theatre and Gallery complex was made possible thanks to a major Big Lottery award and fundraising from the MK Community. MK Theatre is managed and run by Ambassadors Theatre Group. MK Gallery is an educational charitable trust (registered charity number: 1059678).

Known initially as MK G, the gallery's first exhibition by Gilbert & George attracted over 18,000 visitors and signalled the Gallery's ambition to present a challenging and sometimes uncompromising programme of international contemporary art. The first Director (1999 - 2004) was Stephen Snoddy, currently Director of the New Art Gallery Walsall, the second (2004-2008) was (the late) Michael Stanley who went on to be Director of Modern Art Oxford, and the current Director is Anthony Spira, who was appointed in summer 2009.

In its first ten years the Gallery has presented a broad range of exhibitions by UK and international artists, mainly as solo shows, but occasionally as group or thematic exhibitions. Visit the Gallery's Past Exhibitions section to see the full range of the past programme.

In addition to 'onsite' exhibitions in the main Gallery building (termed 'onsite'), MK Gallery has also commissioned artists to make temporary work for different 'offsite' locations in and around Milton Keynes. This has included The Open University, thecentre:mk, Campbell Park, Stowe School, and the car park of Stadium MK, the home of MK Dons football.

The building exterior has altered over the years; its initial terracotta and sandstone coloured render was replaced in 2004 by the Michael Craig Martin exterior commission, which in turn has been replaced by several other artist commissions since, including Richard Woods and Gilberto Zorio.

MK Gallery is Expanding

An expanded MK Gallery will re-open with doubled exhibition spaces, facilities for cinema, performances and events, dedicated education and community resources and a new café.

Plus Tate

MK Gallery is a recently announced partner of Tate, and will be exchanging programmes, ideas and skills with the Plus Tate network of visual arts organisations across the UK. More info at Tate website.